Video games increased players' interest in basketball

Tuesday

Feb 27, 2018 at 7:54 PMFeb 27, 2018 at 7:54 PM

By Nick Kelly Columbia Daily Tribune

Tolton sophomores Lael Haile and Jonny Berndt could dunk when they were just 7 years old. So could Rock Bridge junior Jamonta Black. Hickman‘ s Jarvis Jennings waited until he was 9. Kendra Boone, another Kewpie, did so for the first time as an eighth-grader.

There was no special training. No countless mornings and nights spent on the driveway trying to reach the rim. No rigorous workouts designed for increasing verticals.

Instead, they held down Right Trigger, nudged the left stick then crushed the X button.

NBA 2K and EA Sports’ NBA Live provided Columbia basketball players the opportunity to dunk years before they could even fathom jumping that high.

These basketball video games were much more than something to pass time. They provided an opportunity to create friendships and compete. They supplied Columbia players with another avenue to consume the sport.

And the games increased interest in the sport while fueling their NBA dreams.

“It just made you want to work hard to be like your favorite player on the video game,” Black said.

It’s why Black rushed home after elementary school to finish his homework. He wanted to play the game on his Xbox as soon as possible.

He also wanted to work on improving his MyPlayer, a virtual player whom users can create and take through an NBA career.

“It’s a sharp-shooter, like me,” Black said. “I want to be like my MyPlayer.”

Custom experiences such as MyPlayer and full seasons made the game addicting and contagious. Rock Bridge point guard Dajuan Harris wanted to be like his uncles who played. Bruins guard Isiaih Mosley saw others his age playing, so he joined in, too.

Jennings, however, joined out of practicality.

“It started getting hot outside, so I had to come into the AC and hoop,” Jennings said.

Before he started playing NBA 2K, Jennings liked football better. NBA 2K led Jennings, Hickman’s leading scorer, to basketball.

Weather also prompted the Meny brothers of Battle to play NBA 2K. They used NBA 2K to get more of a basketball fix when rain or snow prevented them from playing basketball outside.

The indoor environment was anything but cordial or friendly. Senior Trae Meny beat his younger brother, Tristan, most of the time. But when Trae Meny lost, he didn’t handle it well. He chucked a controller at a wall and created a dent.

“It was a heated game I should not have lost,” Trae Meny said.

Battle coach Brian Meny never dared to try to play against his sons. Not if the dad and coach who admits he comes from the "Pac-Man" era wanted to keep his dignity intact.

Meny doesn’t hold any ill-will toward the game, though. He’s thankful for it. It has helped bring his sons and players closer. Many of his athletes played the video game as a break during long tournaments.

“That’s the family culture (we strive for) right there,” Brian Meny said. “Just to watch them compete and do those types of things. … It sounds funny, but playing 2K, they don’t want to lose.”

Hickman’s Caillou Naylor knows this all too well. Naylor also sent his controller flying when his father, an NBA 2K fanatic, defeated him by 40 the first time his son played.

Naylor refused to accept this result. He practiced for two weeks. Then he challenged his dad to another game. This time, son beat father.

Tolton's Berndt faced a non-parental Goliath. It was his — at the time — 7-year-old friend, Haile, who beat Berndt by 30 when he first played.

The two who helped the Trailblazers win a Class 3 District 9 title Saturday have been friends since first grade. Throughout that time, Haile and Berndt have played soccer, basketball and NBA 2K together.

The video game piqued their interest in actual basketball, they said. Berndt added that it was the favorite sports game of his friend group growing up.

“So you play that more than other sports in real life, too,” Berndt said.

NBA 2K helped their real game as it also provided a reminder and perspective.

“It kind of makes you think more about the fun side of (basketball) and how the game is supposed to be fun,” Haile said.

That’s why Hickman’s Boone plays. But she is in the minority for Columbia girls basketball players.

Boone is one of three girls on the three Columbia Public School teams who said they played either NBA 2K or NBA Live.

Boone doubts that will change soon. She cited a disparity in popularity between the NBA and the WNBA as one reason.

NBA Live and 2K had not had WNBA teams previously. NBA Live changed that trend when it added WNBA teams to "NBA Live 18."

This addition could change things if the Battle girls basketball team is any indication. The Spartans expressed interest in playing the new NBA Live as part of a team bonding event, despite none playing video games religiously.

Boone’s still not convinced. Not unless the women can dunk on the game.

Los Angeles forward Candace Parker was the only WNBA player whom Boone could think of when she tried to produce names of WNBA players who can dunk.

And if Columbia basketball players are any indication, a basketball video game is not much without dunking.

“I wish I could dunk, but I’m not tall enough to do that” Boone said. “So if I’m playing as LeBron, I can dunk. I usually play with my dad, so I think it is cool whenever I dunk on him.”

nkelly@columbiatribune.com

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